People visiting a venue (e.g., a retail sales floor) sometimes express interest in an item (e.g., a product for sale) but do not complete a transaction with respect to the item. Instead of completing a transaction with respect to the item, the person may choose to abandon the item in the venue. The result is no transaction, and the item is abandoned at a location far from its desired location in the venue.
Accordingly, there is a need for detection of an abandoned item within a venue and identification of the abandoned item to a desired person, because there is an increased likelihood that an identified person will choose to return the abandoned item to its desired location or to complete a transaction with respect to the abandoned item.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.
The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.